Choose Me AAMayL version
by Allycat
Summary: sequel to my fic "To Dwell In Possibilities" May finally meets Misty but does Ash still have feelings for her? AAMayL version as in Ash/May
1. Let's Go To Pallet Town!

I never intended on doing this but I'm making a sequel since so many people asked for one, but I couldn't pick whether I should do an AAML or an AAMayL(I'm using dub names now^-^) so I decided to do two versions. **This one is the AAMayL**(I don't know if anyone else calls it that, but that's what I call. I'm too lazy to be typing out Advanceshipping) since a lot of the reviewers seemed to like it, so do I for that matter. **I'll have the AAML version up later**, this way everyone's happy and hopefully I won't get any flames and no one will hate me(at least I think no one will hate me). So this is for all the AAMayL supporters out there!

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AAML supporters who are anti-AAMayL, I suggest that you stop reading now unless you're interested and won't flame me after reading my fic, I'll have the sequel you'll enjoy up later^^

Disclaimer: Fic-mine 

Pokemon-not mine

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Choose Me

by

Allycat

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Chapter 1: Let's Go To Pallet Town!

"So May will you be coming along with me to Pallet Town?" Ash asked his new traveling female friend. "Of course! I'd love to see what it's like over in the Kanto region and I'd like to meet Prof. Oak and your mom as well!" May answered him.

One year had passed since that night Ash and May conversed under the starry sky and May had planted a kiss on his cheek. May was now 11 who still had that night fresh in her mind. Ash, now 14, still acknowledged that night as well, but being Ash, he had other things on his mind that distracted him from thinking about it much.

Every day May spent with Ash made her infatuation grow as he taught her everything he knew about being a Pokemon trainer. He was everything to her. Her teacher, her friend, her protector, her supporter, her first love. Before she met Ash, May had never considered falling for someone who was into Pokemon since she was never really interested back when she was first starting out as a rookie trainer. Nevertheless there she was, falling in love with a Pokemon Master.

"Alright then let's get going!" Ash, and Pikachu led the way towards the dock where the three of them would catch the ship leading to Kanto. May's little brother had decided to go back to Petalburg City and become their father's apprentice to becoming the new gym leader. Brock had decided to go back to Pewter again having to deal with more family affairs. It was only Ash, Pikachu and May. That was the way May liked it.

As the ship set sail, May went out onto the deck. She placed her hands on the railing and took in the scent of the ocean. "Ahh, smell that salt air!" A nice breeze blew against her and she took off her bandana to allow the wind to comb through her brown hair.

Ash came out along with Pikachu at his side and saw May enjoying the cruise. Her eyes were closed as the wind blew gently against her. A smile graced her face. She looked so serene, a warm smile formed on Ash's face as he watched her. 'She looks so peaceful, I love seeing her when she's like this. It sort of relaxes me too.'

May looked out at the ocean. The water shimmered as the sun's light hit it. "Wow, it's so beautiful!" 

"It sure is." May hadn't noticed Ash had walked up behind her and was taken by surprise. She lost her balance and slipped on the deck that was wet from the ocean water splashing onto it. 

"Pika!" Pikachu called out. "Wa!" Ash made a quick move to prevent her from falling and grabbed her by her slim waist. May responded by wrapping her arms around his neck, clutching him close. "Chaa." Pikachu sighed in relief.

"Are you okay May?" Ash asked as he brought her back up to her feet, although still had his arms loosely around her waist. May loosened her grip on Ash still not realizing the position the two of them were in. "Yeah, thank you Ash." She said with a blush appearing across her cheeks. They both soon realized where their arms were and quickly pulled away blushing a deep crimson.

"Um, sorry about that." They both said at the same time. They paused for a moment, "Jinx!" the two of them said to each other. She gave a small giggle, he chuckled softly.

The ship had finally arrived to their destination. Ash, Pikachu and May started traveling down the road to Pallet. "Almost home, I can't wait to see my mom again, how about you Pikachu?"

"Pika!" Pikachu said cheerfully. May smiled at the two. "You'll like my mom, May. She's a nice person and easy to get along with, her cooking is great too."

"I like her already!" May piped. 

The three had ended up on top of a hill where they were able to see Pallet Town. "Home sweet home!" Ash cried out as he observed his hometown with Pikachu on his shoulder and May at his side. "Come on I'll race you May!"

"You're on!" Ash then took off. As May began running she then paused. "Wait a minute, I don't even know where you live!"

Ash had sprinted off so fast that May had no idea where he had gone off to. 'Great I lost him, now what do I do? I don't know my way around this town. Well, since it's a small town I guess everyone living here would no where he lives.' She started off towards the direction of the small town to find out where Ash's house was.

"Hey Mom I'm home!"

"Pika!"

Mrs. Ketchum ran up to her son at the door. She smiled and patted Pikachu on top of his head. "I've missed you Pikachu!"

"Wa!" Ash collapsed to the ground. "Oh, Ash it's good to see you too honey."

Mr. Mime came up behind Mrs. Ketchum and tugged on her sleeve to remind her of somehing. "Mime!"

"Oh I almost forgot, I have a surprise for you Ash!"

"Really? What?" Mrs. Ketchum only wagged her finger at him. "Uh-uh, you'll have to wait and see sweetie! But until you do, could you run an errand for me?"

"Sure Mom, what is it?"

"I just need you to pick up something for me at the market." Mrs. Ketchum said with a sort of mischievous look on her cheerful face.

End of chapter 1. I hope you enjoyed this fic so far. Hopefully I'll have the next chapter up tomorrow. Review please!


	2. A New Friend, My Rival

And here is chapter 2 of the sequel to "To Dwell In Possibilities", I hope you enjoy it. Here are my thank yous to my first two reviewers:

DJ-I'm glad you like this pairing, so do I^^ thank you for reviewing!*tosses you an Ash plushie*

LYNN-thank you for reviewing, I'll have the AAML version up sometime probably during the fall, so be patient^^ *throws you a Misty plushie*

Chapter 2: A New Friend, My Rival

May had reached the first building she saw, it was a market. She stood out in front of it until someone came out. A girl who seemed to be about five years older than her stepped out carrying two bag of groceries in her arms and a pokemon in her backpack. May stopped her as she was walking away.

"Um, excuse me, I'm new here and I was wondering if you could tell me where the Ketchum residence is?" the girl smiled and nodded. "Sure! I'm on my way over there myself, you can come with me!" May beamed gratefully. "Thank you so much!"

The girl's pokemon trilled happily. "Togeprrriiii!" May giggled at the pokemon. "How cute! What is it?"

"This is Togepi, say hello Togepi!"

"Toge! Toge!" May found it irresistibly cute.

"Oh I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself, my name's May." May held out her hand. "Nice to meet you May!" the girl used her left arm to hug the two bags of groceries up close to her so that they wouldn't fall and shook May's hand. "Here let me help you with that." May took one of the bags from the girl. "Thanks!" 

May walked besides the girl to Ash's house. "Your Togepi is absolutely adorable, what other pokemon do you have?"

"I have a Politoed, a Corsola, a Psyduck..."

"Those are all water pokemon, right?"

"Yup, I plan to be a water pokemon master!" May grew a sort of admiration towards this girl.

"Wow! All I've planned to do was to enter pokemon contests and travel to different places."

"That sounds fun! What pokemon are you going to enter contests with?" 

"Well I have my Beautifly with me!" the girl grew curious of the pokemon.

"I don't think I've ever heard of a Beautifly before, what is it?" May stopped walking for a moment and took out a pokeball. She released her Beautifly, it flew above her and landed on top of her head. May looked like she was wearing a very large and colorful bow.

"Wow, it's so pretty!" the girl awed at the butterfly. "Thank you! I thought it would take forever for it to evolve." May returned the pokemon back into it's pokeball.

"What pokemon is it an evolved form of?"

"A Wurmple!" the girl had that curious look again.

"A Wurmple?"

"Yeah! It's this cute little worm that eats anything and everything." May brought out her pokedex and showed the picture of Wurmple to her. The girl's face turned pale. May noticed this.

"What's wrong? Are you sick?" the girl shook her head. "No it's just that I hate bug pokemon, not even if it evolved into a cute little Beautifly like yours I would never catch one." May smiled. 

The two girls continued walking towards the Ketchum residence while discussing their likes and dislikes. The two of them seemed to be hitting it off quite well, they found that they were both very fond of each other. Soon they were talking like they've been friends for years.

"Have you lived here long?" May asked the girl.

"No, I don't live here at all. I live in Cerulean City, the gym to be exact."

"Wow, that's cool, you're from a gym! So am I!"

"Really? So May, where are you from?"

"I came from the Hoenn region, have you heard of it?" the girl grew quiet. May showed concern.

"What's wrong?"

"Well, it's just that, this boy I have a huge crush on went to Hoenn to compete in the Hoenn League." the girl giggled a little as she thought about the boy she liked.

"When I first met him, he was just a rookie trainer. He borrowed my bike and I found it totally trashed. I got angry at him, but then when I got to know him a little bit better, I started to like him more. So I told him I wasn't going to leave his side until he got me a bike. That's how I was able to stay with him for so long on his journeys, but..." the girl grew solemn. May stared at her with a sympathetic.

"...the place where I left my bike, a pokemon center, well we visited that same one and it turned out that my sisters left a message for me to look after the gym that they were in charge of, I wouldn't leave until I got my bike back but the Nurse Joy that worked there fixed it for me, so the guy no longer had a debt to pay and I was able to leave."

"Oh, I'm sorry about that. So if you're in charge of looking after the gym then why are you here?" the girl then cheered up. "Because my sisters returned to the gym and now I'm able to visit him!" May smiled.

"Oh, so your crush lives here?"

"Yup!" the girl blushed slightly.

"Oh, you know what? I never told you my name. It's..." just as the girl was about to say it, a familiar voice from up ahead was heard.

"Misty?" the girl and May looked up ahead and saw Ash standing several feet away with an disbelieving face.

As May heard the name Misty, she thought back to that night. 'Misty is the name of the girl that Ash likes.' May turned her head towards her new friend. 'I so hope that she isn't Misty, but if she is, then my new friend is now my...'

The girl smiled excitedly and without thinking, she dropped the groceries she had in her arms and ran up towards Ash embracing him. Ash only stood there blushing as she did so. May looked at the two with a saddened face. 

'...my rival.'

End of Chapter 2. I decided to make May and Misty friends before they find out that they both like Ash unlike most fics I've read that have Misty and May hating each other at first sight. I rather have them as friends then enemies set out to destroy each other. Please review and I'll have the next chapter up real soon. Ciao!


	3. Can't Give Up

I am so sorry for the delay.  Here's my little situation, you see, I'm spending the summer with my brother and he didn't get a computer until Monday 6/30/03.  My brother is hardly ever at home so I ended up putting his computer together, starting it up, and loading the Norton AntiVirus onto it.  By the time it finished scanning all the files for viruses, he had left for school and he told me that I could use AOL as soon as it finished scanning.  One problem, I couldn't use AOL because he didn't give me a screen name that he wanted and I can't just make one up for him because he won't be able to change it if he doesn't like it, I had to wait until he returned, which would be the next morning since he sleeps over at friends' and other family members' houses, to ask him about what screen name he wanted.  So now I am very relieved and very exhausted from all that's been going on but despite that I've manage to type up the third chapter and finally got to go on the internet. Well anyways, here's the third chapter to _Choose__ Me (AAMayL version)_, I hope that you all will like it.

Thank you reviewers!  *pulls out a bag full of plushies for reviewers* I've got thank you pluhies with me^^

Thunderstorm-Don't worry this will definitely be an Ash/May fic, okay?*hands you an Ash and May plushie then goes to hide from the black clouds*

Tk Macintosh-you'll have to wait and see for what I have in store for the ending^^ *tosses you an Ash plushie*

DJ-here's another plushie for you!*throws you a May plushie*

Millenium Spirit Of Shadows- thank you for reviewing but unfortunately for you this isn't AAML*hands you a Misty plushie*

Yugislittlechic- *blush**blush**blush* look what you've done! You've made me blush! Thank you for reviewing and for the nice compliment, no one has ever told me my writing is wonderful*hopes that you won't take a look at my very first couple of fics and throws you an Ash plushie*

Angel*Clefairy- I've continued^^ thank you for reviewing*tosses you a May plushie*

ejgHorseLady- thank you, I'm glad you like it.*hands you a Misty plushie*

Chapter 3: Can't Give Up

May watched with a heartbroken face as her friend hugged Ash.  'Misty said she has a crush on a boy who wrecked her bike that lives here, Ash told me that he wrecked Misty's bike.  Yeah, Misty's crush is definitely Ash.  And I can bet that Ash probably still likes her, I mean it's only been a year since he told me how he felt about her.  Oh man, why did this have to happen? Now I definitely don't have a chance with Ash.  I should just give up now.'  May hung her head down and stared at her feet.

As she hugged Ash, Misty came to her senses and let go of him blushing.  "It's been so long since I've seen you Ash!"  Ash kept staring at her, his mouth hung open.

"I can't believe it, is it really you Misty?"

"Of course it is!" Ash smiled happily at her, but then he saw behind Misty that May was standing quietly looking downward.  He walked over to her smiling and grabbed the hand that wasn't holding the grocery bag.  May was a little taken aback by his touch and blushed.  Misty got a confused look, she was also a little irritated at Ash for holding May's hand.

"Ash! Don't go up to complete strangers and think that you can just hold them like that!" Ash ignored her, he knew that May wasn't a stranger to him, she was completely the opposite.  The way he looked at May made May feel like she would go limp and fall into his arms at any second.

"May, I thought I lost you!"  Ash pulled May towards Misty by the hand gently.  She slowly followed looking away slightly trying to hide her blush.

"Misty, this is May! I met her in Hoenn, Pikachu accidentally fried her bike and we felt guilty about her having to travel Hoenn by foot all by her lonesome so we let her join us.  I kind of took her under my wing since she didn't know much about pokemon, we've been close friends ever since." Ash explained.  Misty tensed up.

"You only traveled with her?" She asked staring at Ash's hand that was holding May's.

"Well, later her little brother and Brock joined us." Misty felt a little relieved.  Ash turned towards May and gestured towards Misty.

"May, I'd like you to meet Misty, she's the one I told you about that one time!" 

Misty gave an annoyed look.  "And what exactly did you tell her about me?" Ash stumbled for words and faintly blushed. 'I bet that May was just the oh so perfect girl to be around with and badmouthed me to her. If he's able to talk to her about me, why can't he at least call me to tell me about his new friends?'

Ash chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his head still blushing.  "Well, I um, kind of told her, um what I really thought about you."

"Oh? So what did you tell her?!" Misty waited impatiently thinking that Ash had mentioned only her negative characteristics to May.  Ash was too embarrassed to admit what he said a year ago.  Even though he knew he would have to tell her sometime, he felt now wasn't that time.

May pitied poor Ash, she knew exactly what he was going through.  Unknown to him, May was having the same trouble admitting her feelings as well.  She knew that if she was is in his situation, a way out of it would definitely be appreciated greatly.

"Ash told me that he liked having you around on his travels!" May answered happily.  She attempted to say something that related to what Ash had said exactly without giving away his secret.

Misty's angered face changed into a softer expression.  "Oh, well I'm sorry for getting on your case like that Ash."  Ash was relieved and smiled towards Misty.  

Ash hadn't let go of May's hand yet, he gave it a small squeeze as he gave May a thankful smile, she blushed in return.  He held it gently as if it were the most fragile thing in the world.  May was holding his hand just as he was holding hers. 

Misty saw this, her jealousy began to rise.  'I see what's going on here, May seems to have a crush on Ash too, well, I'm sorry May but I'm not going to hand Ash over to you just because we're friends.  Hmmm, make that _were friends, from this day until Ash chooses between us, we're enemies.' Misty grabbed Ash's free hand and pulled him towards her causing him to let go of May.  May's hand was left in the air, wanting to reach out to Ash, but she then brought it into her chest, over her beating heart which was pounding rapidly due to Ash._

May showed some annoyance towards Misty but decided to let it slide. 'What does it matter if she took him away from me? Ash likes Misty, not me.  But...' May looked back at the hand that Ash held so gently.  'The way he held my hand, it made me feel so safe and warm.  And when he grabbed my hand, he stared into my eyes for a moment smiling so lovingly.  It made me want to melt.'

May looked up at Misty holding onto Ash, she grew a determined look. 'Ash has been there for me, helping me with whatever I had trouble with, you don't find guys like that around often, I just can't give up on him just because another girl is after the same boy.  I just need to try a little harder, it's too early to let it all end now.  Sorry Misty, but I can't just let you win so easily, you're going to have competition.'

"So Ash, I'm guessing your mom sent you here to walk me to your house." Misty said not letting go of Ash's hand.  Ash was confused at the reason why she was holding his hand so tightly.  May knew that Misty was just being possessive over Ash and felt exasperated.

"Well she told me to pick someone up at the market, she gave me this note."  Ash dug through his pocket to show it to Misty.  Misty took the note and read it.  She then began laughing.  Ash and May looked at her questioningly.

"What's so funny?"  Misty stopped her laughter and read the note aloud.

"Go to the Pallet Town market and find a girl with short red hair worn down to her shoulders and wearing a pink halter top, beige mini skirt and sandals, she's carrying a Togepi inside a red backpack.  She'll most likely be carrying two bags of groceries." Misty hopped back in order for Ash to get a good look at her and posed.  Ash still wasn't getting it.  Misty got frustrated with him.

"Ash it's a description of me!  Your mom wanted to surprise you by sending you to the market while I was there picking up her groceries!" Ash looked Misty over.  She definitely fit the description, and she looked good too. "Like the new look?"

"Yeah, you look great Misty." Misty blushed and giggled.  May felt envious of Misty.  'Okay, that's enough, I can't take much more of Misty hogging all of Ash's attention and trying to make me seem invisible here.'

"Hey Ash?" May asked.

"Yeah May?" May took a few moments to think of something to say, she just wanted to break up this scene before she had to witness anymore of Misty's flirting.

"Um, well, I'm a little hungry, do you think we can go over to your house now and get something to eat?" Ash smiled at her warmly.

"Of course May!" 

"Let's go!" Misty exclaimed.  She grabbed Ash's hand and headed towards his house.  

Ash looked back at May who was still standing in the same position looking after them.  He frowned and sighed as he saw her all by herself. 

The two of them walked ahead hand in hand while May picked up the bag of groceries that Misty had carelessly dropped previously and walked quietly behind the couple.  

'I know it seems selfish of me to think this but I've fallen for Ash and it just breaks my heart to see him with Misty like that. I remember my parents once told me that if I felt strongly about something I should always try my best to get it.  I just need to try a little harder with Ash.  Maybe he won't like me as much as I like him, but I just need the satisfaction that he likes me a little bit more than now. Who knows, maybe he'll choose me over Misty.'

End of chapter 3. I've seem to have made Misty an antagonist, haven't I? I'm sorry Misty fans I didn't mean toL it just sort of came out that way. I'll upload the next chapter, it may take a while so bear with me people.  Review time!


	4. Round 1: Hearts Race for Ash

Chapter 4 is up now! Yay! Finally.  Hope everyone enjoys it.  So sorry for the huge delay, I've been very lazy and I'm a procrastinator

Thank you to my wonderful reviewers!

Angel*Clefairy- It seems like she's evil doesn't it? It wasn't my intention but I was thinking back to an old fic I once read where one girl was being kind of cruel to the other girl for liking the same guy.  I'm so happy that I've made it to someone's favorites list, I thought I'd never be a good enough writer to achieve that, thank you so much!*gives you an Ash plushy*

ejqHorseLady- and here's another plushy to add to your collection!*throws you an Ash plushie* take care of your Misty plushy, Thunderstorm is out to destroy them all!

Thunderstorm- *pouts* you destroyed my Misty plushies, well as long as you don't destroy me do as you wish *thinks of what to give you**light bulb appears above my head**digs in my bag of plushies**tosses you a Misty voodoo doll(torture devices not included)*

Bill- *puts finger to chin and thinks* Hmmm Ash the player… well that's sort of what I'm doing, I'm going to make an AAML version of this fic.*tosses you an Ash plushy*

LYW- I'll try to keep both characters like that but when I had Misty hogging Ash in the last chapter she seemed a little out of character to me, I'm hoping this fic will turn out well, thanks for the review!*tosses you a May plushy*

DJ- Thank you for your kind words!  I'm glad this fic isn't as bad as I originally thought^^*throws you a Brock plushy*

Gryphon Turboclaw- Yes I know about that special but incase you haven't noticed, sometimes when the group meets a pokemon they end up meeting it again and wondering what it is in a later episode and you got one fact wrong, Sakura used Espeon to defeat Corsola, Beautifly only helped look for the stolen badges.  Torchic is with May, I just haven't introduced it into this fic yet because I'm not sure if it will evolve as the 6th season progresses or not.  When I do introduce it, it will be a torchic despite the fact if it does evolve in a later episode since I happen to find it too cute^^*hands you an Ash plushy*

Tk Macintosh- here's another plushy for you^^*throws you a May plushy*

Juan- thanks for the review, sorry for the cliff hanger but I had to do it*gives you an Ash plushy*

Moongirl- yes Ash does have a bike problem, he's prone to destroying girls' bikes lol but that's how he gets himself into these romance fics^^*gives you an Ash plushie*

Punky-Pika- don't worry, there's plenty of AAML fics and supporters out there so AAML is far from dead.  Cheer up, instead of feeling sad about AAMayL, try to be happy for those who never got into AAML or any other pairing that have finally found a couple to support, even if it isn't the same one you like. It'll make you feel better acknowledging that instead of the fact that AAMayL is surfacing and becoming a little popular among fans.*Gives you a Misty plushie and a pat on the back for being a good sport*

...............................................- you have a lot of dots in your name lol thanks for reviewing*gives you a Misty plushie*

The Card Witch- I'm glad you enjoy my story and want me to stick to Ash/May, someone else told me I wrote Ash/May fics very well and wants me to continue writing more and it's very flattering I never considered myself as a good writer for anything *hands you a May plushie*

Red- thanx for the reviews, chapter 3 seems to be favored by a couple of people even though I don't think it's a great chapter at all.  Go figure:/ *gives you an Ash plushie*

Chapter 4:  Round 1:  Hearts Race for Ash

"Mom, we're back!" Ash walked in through the door followed by Misty, who still clutched his hand, and May, struggling with the groceries.

Mrs. Ketchum rushed to the door happily.  "Welcome home sweetie! I see you found the surprise!" Misty smiled.  

Pikachu came up from behind Mrs. Ketchum from the dining room.  One glance at Misty and it dove into her arms happy to see an old friend again. "Pika!"

 "It's good to see you too Pikachu!" she rubbed the top of its head.  "Toge!" Misty put her backpack down and let Togepi run off with Pikachu to play.

"Um, excuse me, where should I put these bags?" May said behind two bags of groceries.  Mrs. Ketchum turned towards her and quickly grabbed one of the bags.  "Follow me into the kitchen, you can set it down on the table." Mrs. Ketchum led the way into the kitchen, May followed.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot that I had groceries with me.  I must've accidentally left them behind.  Sorry about that May!" Misty said.

May turned to Misty with a fake smile. "Oh, that's okay Misty, it was no trouble." May lied.  'Yeah right, I bet you only left the bag you dropped behind so that I would have to carry it in order for me to slow down and stay behind you two all the way to the house.'

Ash soon followed after May into the kitchen along with Misty.  He, May and Misty helped put the groceries away.  As soon as they were done, Mrs. Ketchum turned towards May.  "Thank you for carrying the groceries and helping us put them away."

"It was my pleasure, I'm May!" Mrs. Ketchum smiled cheerfully at her.  "Oh, so you're the girl that Ash has told me so much about.  It's a pleasure to meet you May, I'm Mrs. Ketchum!" May smiled as did Ash, Misty grinned a little but then quickly got rid of it, May did seem like a very nice girl but Misty was just too possessive of Ash to let herself become friends with her.

The four of them headed towards the sofa in the living room.  As ash sat down at the end of the sofa May and Misty hurried quickly to gain the seat next to him.  Unfortunately for them, Mrs. Ketchum had already taken it.  The two girls looked at each other.  They slightly glared at one another and sat down on the sofa, May sitting next to Mrs. Ketchum and Misty sitting at the end opposite to Ash's seat on the sofa, scooting as far away from May as possible.

"So May tell me about yourself." Mrs. Ketchum said.

"Well, I have a younger brother who's now back in Petalburg city with our mom and dad.  My father is the gym leader there."

"Oh, really? How wonderful!" Mrs. Ketchum cheerfully exclaimed.  May smiled and nodded her head.

"Speaking of gyms, why aren't you at the Cerulean City gym Misty? Did your sisters come back from their trip?" Ash asked Misty who was looking pretty bored at the moment.  Misty was pulled out of her bored expression and nodded happily.  "So why'd you decide to come here?" Misty blushed slightly. "Um, well…"

"Misty kept calling here asking if I heard from you and once I told her that you called to say you were coming back she came to visit."  Mrs. Ketchum answered when Misty took so long to reply.  Ash was amazed. 'She was calling for me?' Ash noticed the blush on Misty's face and began to grin.  'Maybe she does like me as much as I like her.'

"And I came here because I wanted to see you again Ash." Misty said nervously and blushing like mad.  Ash beamed with a small blush on his face.  May looked at Ash, she saw the look on his face and sighed deeply and sadly turning to face the floor.  'He couldn't make it any clearer to me that he still likes her.  It's gonna be hard trying to get him to like me, but I won't give up.'

"You kids are probably starving after that long trip, I'll go make us lunch."  Mrs. Ketchum got up from the couch and headed into the kitchen.  May scooted over closer to Ash, she felt Misty's glare as she did this and she suddenly became nervous.  "So Ash, do you think you could give me a tour of the town after lunch?"  May asked timidly.  Ash smiled at the innocence in her voice and nodded.  "Sure, we can go now.  It'll be a while until my mom finishes making lunch." Ash answered getting up from the couch.  He held out his hand to May and she accepted happily as she was helped up onto her feet.

Misty pouted jealously and looked the other way with her arms crossed.  Ash looked her way and walked towards her.  He held out his hand.  Misty stared at it a bit and looked up to see Ash's smiling face.  "Would you like to come with us Misty?"  May angrily looked the opposite direction.  Misty giggled and took Ash's hand.  "Of course Ash!"  Ash pulled her up from the couch.  

May took a glance at them.  They were once again walking hand in hand, May felt so upset.  She let her arms loosely hug her torso as she looked at her feet sadly.  She then felt a hand grab hers.  She saw that it was Ash's, May blushed and looked up at him.  He was smiling at her, she returned it.  Ash hadn't let go of Misty's hand but May felt happy to be acknowledged this time around, although Misty wasn't very happy.

"Mom, Misty and I are gonna show May around, we'll be back in a little while!"  Ash yelled out to his mother who was in the kitchen.  Mrs. Ketchum replied with an "Okay dear, have fun!" and the three of them headed outside.

Ash felt so tranquil.  There he was with his long time crush, Misty, at his right and his newest best female friend, May, at his left.  They were both his favorite girls to be around, aside from his mother, and the three of them were all together. He couldn't be any happier.  Though for some reason he felt that there was some tension in the air.

Misty was a bit disappointed that Ash was also holding May's hand.  'It's only been a year since I left and he's already found another girl who's just as head over heels in love with him as much as I am, this wasn't supposed to happen!  I've been with Ash for such a long time, I've spent hours, days, weeks, years with him.  We've been through so much together and I want it to continue, I won't let May, a girl who's only known him for a short amount of time, take him from me just like that!'  Misty squeezed Ash's hand as she thought this.  Ash felt this and glanced at Misty, he noticed her firm expression on her face.  'What's up with Misty?'  he then turned to look at May.

May was pretty content yet ironically enough seemed a little solemn.  'It's great that Ash still notices me, but it doesn't seem to be anything special since he's also holding Misty's hand.  I guess he still only sees me as a friend.'  Ash was confused with both girls, they were both silent and it felt so tense in between them.

"Hey why don't we stop at Prof. Oak's lab first?" Ash suggested, breaking the silence.  Both girls broke from their thoughts and turned to Ash.

"Sure Ash!" Misty agreed.

"That's a great idea! I've been dying to meet him in person!  My brother's gonna be so jealous!" May exclaimed excitedly.

Ash let go of both girls' hands and ran off.  "Come on!" he yelled back at them.

"Ash this isn't another race is it?  I don't even know where Prof. Oak's place is!" May yelled at him exasperatedly.

"It's not hard to find, it's that big lab up there!" Ash pointed to Prof. Oak's lab.

"I'll meet you there!" Ash then ran straight towards the lab.

May sighed.  "Some tour, this feels more like a marathon."  Misty smirked at her.  "What's the matter, afraid you can't keep up?"  May glowered at her.  "I can keep up!"

"Well then let's see if that's true!" 

"Alright then!"

Misty then ran after Ash, May dashed off as well.  Both girls were sprinting at full speed to Oak's lab.  Their dust rose high after them.  Neighbors looked on as flashes of pink and red were seen.  

May soon began to slow down, she wasn't fit for running, heck she still wasn't used to walking.  Misty took the lead.  Misty turned to look behind at May and smiled triumphantly.  May saw this and desperately forced herself to catch up.  'I will not lose!' unfortunately May just couldn't keep up with Misty and began slowing down to a jog, which then turned into a walk, and then finally a stop.  May placed her hands on her knees and panted heavily. 

She looked up to see that Misty was far ahead of her.  In fact Misty had already reached the lab.  From where May stood, she saw that Ash congratulated her for being second place and saw Misty smack him upside the head for teasing her for being too slow, but they were acting so chummy afterwards.  May then saw the two of them head inside, Misty grabbed Ash's hand as they did so.  May's panting lessened and she began to walk slowly to the lab.

"Round one goes to Misty."

End of chapter 4.  Ugh!  Why is it that I continue to portray Misty as this evil jealous girl? Man she seems so out of character like that but it makes good conflict I guess.  Personally I really don't like this chapter cuz I wrote this in a hurry and I know I could've done a better job on it.  I hate writing the rising action because I never know what to write, I've already written the conclusion to this fic but I don't know what to put in the middle Darn writer's block!!! Review time!  And I greatly appreciate all the nice reviews I've been getting, I love you guys^^


	5. Round 2: Giving Him Green Eyes

I'M ALIVE PEOPLE! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?! I had succumbed to writer's block and waited this long to update anyways here's chapter 5! Oh yeah and you're gonna have to completely forget my description of Misty from chapter 3, picture her in her new outfit. Actually I'm not too fond of it myself, she looks like a walking banana...

Chapter 5: Round 2: Giving Him Green Eyes

It took her a while due to the fact that she dawdled, but May was finally at Oak's lab. She stood outside the door sadly thinking of what she'd see behind the closed door. She sighed as she thought about Ash and Misty. May took in a breath and opened the door.

May poked her head in. She didn't see Ash or Misty. She stepped in and closed the door behind her. "Hello? Ash? Misty? Anyone here?" 

"Hello there! May I help you?" a young man had asked her as he was heading towards the door.

"I'm sorry for just coming in, but I'm looking for my friend Ash, have you seen him?" May asked. The young man smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, he's out back with Prof. Oak and his friend Misty, I'll take you to them." he said. May smiled gratefully. "Thank you very much! I'm May!"

"I'm Tracey! I've heard about you, you're the girl that's been traveling with Ash aren't you?" he asked. May nodded. "Yeah, I guess Prof. Oak told you that huh? I can't wait to meet him in person!" Tracey chuckled lightly. "Don't tell me you're a big fan of his too." May shook her head. "No, but he's pretty well known, and my brother Max talks about how great he is nonstop!" Tracey smiled. "Well he's a great man, you'll like him."

Ash, Misty and Prof. Oak were out back where all the pokemon were. "So how have things been around here Prof. Oak?" Ash asked. "Everything's been fine, and your pokemon are very helpful to me, especially Bulbasaur." Prof. Oak answered. "That's good to hear!"

"Hey Ash there's someone here looking for you!" Tracey called out from the door leading to the back. Ash turned and saw May come out. "Hey May! Sorry for not waiting for you, but Misty said that you wouldn't mind if we went ahead without you." May frowned. "Oh she did, did she?" Misty only smiled innocently. "Well you were lagging and it would've been boring to have to wait until you got here." she said.

May clenched her fists, but decided to take her mind off of Misty. She then spotted Prof. Oak and gasped happily. "Prof. Oak! I'm so happy to finally meet you face to face!" 

"It's nice to finally meet you too May." May pulled out a piece of paper and a pen from her pack and gave it to Oak. "Can I have your autograph?" she pleaded. Oak took the pen and paper. "And can you make one out to Max please?"

"Sure." he signed the paper and gave it back to May. "Thank you so very much!" Ash, Misty, and Tracey sweatdropped at how excited she became. "I guess Prof. Oak is famous in the Hoenn League too." Misty said.

May then looked out at the grassy area and stared in awe at all the pokemon she saw. "Wow! Are all these pokemon yours Prof. Oak?"

"Well actually, many of these pokemon belong to trainers who originated here in Pallet Town." May then turned to Ash. "That means your pokemon are here too, huh Ash?" he nodded. "Yeah, would you like to meet them?"

"Sure!"

"Okay!" Ash led her out to the grassy field. Misty fumed as they left her there. 

"I'll be inside if you need anything" Oak said as he headed back inside.

Misty continued to watch Ash and May. Tracey smiled. "Jealous are we?" Misty snapped out of her gaze and blushed. "No never!" Tracey laughed. "Come on, Misty! Admit it, you like Ash and you can't stand the idea of him with another girl!" Misty's face turned redder, out of both embarrassment and anger, but she didn't argue.

Misty saw from where she stood Ash introducing May to all his smaller and cuter pokemon, and saw how May gushed over them. "The problem is, she has a crush on him too."

"Aha! So you admit it!" Misty got frustrated. "OKAY! I LIKE HIM! I'M JEALOUS OF MAY! ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?!" Tracey backed off of her, chuckling nervously. Misty looked back at Ash and May blushing.

"You know, jealousy might not be a bad idea!" Misty looked back at Tracey questioningly. "What do you mean Tracey?"

"If you feel threatened by May's presence then try making Ash Jealous!" Tracey suggested. Misty gave it a thought. "I think you may be right!" she said smiling. "Yeah but the question is who are you going to get to make him jealous?" Misty looked at him mischievously. "Oh no, I know where this is going..." Tracey gulped.

"And this is Cyndiquil!" Ash presented his fire pokemon from Johto. May squatted down and petted the little pokemon's head giggling as it said it's name. "Hi there cutie! So this is the fire starter from Johto? What fire pokemon is a starter from Kanto?" May asked interested in the other fire type starters other than her torchic. "That would be Charmander, I caught that one too and it evolved to Charizard!"

"And it was a pain to see how poorly trained it was!" Ash turned to argue as he heard Misty's voice, but stopped as he noticed that Tracey along with her. Misty was clinging onto Tracey's arm and Tracey wasn't struggling free either. They both approached Ash and May smiling. Misty was laughing and giggling looking at Tracey flirtingly.

"Uh, Misty, you feeling okay?" Ash asked with an arched brow. May was curious about Misty's peculiar behavior, but then again she hadn't known Misty for very long so maybe this was normal for her.

"Oh I'm just fine Ash! I've just become more friendlier with Tracey!" she said batting her lashes at Tracey. Tracey only laughed nervously not saying a word. 'I bet Ash must be feeling green with envy by now!' Misty thought. She turned to look at Ash, but was surprised to see him smiling. "Well I'm glad you two are getting closer as friends!" Tracey sweatdropped while Misty fell to the ground. 'I forgot! This is Ash I'm trying to make jealous here! The only time he gets jealous is when someone's better than he is!'

Ash turned towards May again. "Come on May! I'll introduce you to Bayleef!"

"Okay! Which pokemon is that?"

"That's the evolved form of the grass starter of Johto." he explained to her as they walked off. Their voices faded away and Misty was tempted into pulling out her hair from the frustration. "Well, Ash isn't the sharpest tool in the shed so I guess he wouldn't have ever caught on to the fact that you were flirting with me on his own." Tracey commented. Misty then had an idea. "Well if I can't make Ash jealous, then I'll just have to get May to become interested in another guy! Then Ash will be all mine!" Tracey started backing away ever so slowly as she thought this out loud, but too late, Misty had already stopped him from going any further. "Tracey, you're going to help me again!" she grabbed him by the ear and dragged him away. "Why me?" he cried.

Ash, May and Misty were back at Ash's house eating the lunch that Mrs. Ketchum had prepared. "Mmm, this is delicious Mrs. Ketchum!" May exclaimed. Mrs. Ketchum blushed putting her hands to her reddening cheeks. "Thank you May!"

"I told you my mom was a great cook!" Ash commented. May smiled at him. Misty rolled her eyes. Ash finished his lunch and carried it to the kitchen where his mom had retreated to leaving May and Misty alone.

May glanced at Misty still having something on her mind. "Uh, Misty may I ask you something?"

"What?"

"Why were you so cozy with Tracey earlier today?" Misty smirked. "I'm so glad you asked that May!" Misty said as she took a bite of her food. "It's just that Tracey is such a nice, smart, cute guy, how could I resist?" May was a bit taken aback by her answer and how dreamy eyed Misty got. 'Wow, I never knew that Misty was so fickle, but if she likes Tracey this much then maybe now I'll have a chance with Ash!' May thought excitedly. "So I'm guessing you don't like Ash anymore?" Misty thought a moment, thinking how May would take it. If she said no, May would either think Tracey was a real catch, or Ash was free for her to take.

There was a knock at the door. Misty smiled in delight, 'Right on time!' she thought. "Why don't you answer that May?" Misty suggested. May got up and opened the door. It was Tracey. "Well speak of the devil! It's Tracey!" Misty said. "Oh hi Tracey! What brings you here?" May asked. Tracey pulled out a bouquet of red roses and handed them to May. "These are for you May!" he said. May took them not knowing what to think of what was going on.

Ash poked his head out to see who it was at the door and saw Tracey handing May flowers. 'What are the flowers for?' he stepped out of the kitchen to greet Tracey.

"Hey Tracey! What are you doing here? And what's with the flowers?"

"He brought them for me!" May smiled. Ash was confused as to why he would, but it also made him feel unhappy about it.

"Tell Prof. Oak thank you for the flowers! They're a great welcoming gift!" May told Tracey. Tracey and Misty both fell to the ground. Ash felt a little better knowing that they were from Oak. May put the flowers into a vase.

"No they're not from Prof. Oak! They're from me to you May, every beautiful girl deserves a bouquet, but even these gorgeous roses are no match to your beauty." Tracey said. 'Think like Brock! Think like Brock! Think like Brock!' Tracey thought to himself. 'Yes! That's it Tracey! At this rate May is sure to fall for him!'

May was flabbergasted to say the least. "Uh, thank you Tracey, I don't know what to say." Ash continued to watch feeling more uneasy with every line Tracey spoke to May. "Say that you'll go out with me, May! Please give me the honor of letting me treat you to dinner this evening!" Tracey said. 'Think like Brock! Think like Brock! Think like Brock!' he continued to think to himself. 'Please say yes! Please say yes! Please say yes!' Misty thought. "No, no, NO!' Ash thought. 'What does Tracey think he's doing asking May out?!' he asked himself with his blood boiling.

May just stared at Tracey with her mouth gaping. "Uh, well, I..." May didn't know what to say, but she knew that she certainly wasn't interested in going out with Tracey. 'What do I do? How do I let him off gently?' By this time, everyone was sweating while waiting for May's answer. Misty hoping she'll say yes, Ash hoping she'll say no, and Tracey hoping to get through this day in one piece in case he fails and has to face Misty's rage.

Finally, May took so long that Ash answered for her. "Sorry Tracey, but she can't!" Ash said firmly. Misty, Tracey and May turned to Ash surprised at him. "Why not Ash?" Tracey and Misty asked in unison. "Because she's going to be with me all today, we still haven't finished the tour of the town. So if you'll excuse us, we have to get going!" Ash answered as he grabbed May by the wrist and dragged her out the door with a look of sheer jealousy on his face.

Misty let out a groan knowing what had just happened, but couldn't believe it. "Well it looks like May was the one to make him jealous, but look at it this way Misty, you accomplished your first goal!" Misty glared at him. Daggers were shooting out of her eyes aiming towards Tracey. Tracey felt scared by the look she was giving him and decided to back out of the door. "Well I've gotta go now, I think I hear Prof. Oak calling! Bye!" he shut the door and ran off leaving Misty fuming.

End of chapter 5. It took me a while to think of something but I finally did! Isn't writer's block a horrible thing Well it's review time again! And I'd like to say thank you to my wonderful reviewers! 


	6. Round 3: Survival of the Fittest!

Here's chapter 6! I'm glad that most of you are enjoying my fic so far, but I'd like to reply to those reviews that left me quite puzzled as to why they dislike my fic for the sole reason that May's in it. It's perfectly fine that you prefer Misty over May, but I'm not looking to see if you like the characters in my fic, I'm looking to see if you like my fic in general. The anime, Pokemon, has no official couples or REAL love on it because the writers made it for kids. They never intended on a love relationship between Misty and Ash, May and Ash, Jesse and James, or any of the other main characters, but that's the whole point of fanfiction, it's FICTION written by FANS. And another thing, if you don't like my fic, then it's a probably a good idea that you shouldn't read it.

Chapter 6: Round 3: Survival of the Fittest!

The sun was setting by the time Ash and May's tour of the town ended. They were now somewhere in the outskirts of Pallet. Ash was unaware of this and continued walking with May right behind him. May had barely noticed that they were no longer within the perimeter of the town, she was merely happy about having Ash to herself for once. No Max, no Brock, no Pikachu, and definitely no Misty, it was just her and Ash.

Meanwhile, Misty, waited for Ash and May to return. The more time passed, the more agitated Misty got. 'It's now 5:49, where the heck are they?' she wondered.

"Misty, could you please do me a favor?" Mrs. Ketchum called from within the dining room. Misty put on a cheerful smile and answered, "Yes?"

"I was calling several neighbors and they say that Ash and May were heading into the Viridian Forest. It's late and knowing Ash, he'll probably end up camping out there, could you please track him down and give him his sleeping bag?"

"Sure Mrs. Ketchum!" Misty said gladly. This was a good opportune moment to keep an eye on Ash. She ran up to his room and grabbed his sleeping bag, as well as her own.

"Oh, Misty! Could you get the spare that's in the attic? May probably doesn't have one with her and I wouldn't want her to catch cold out there." Misty's face faltered at the mention of her name. 'Yeah, wouldn't want that to happen to poor May,' she thought sarcastically.

Misty headed out of the house with two sleeping bags under her arms along with Togepi in her backpack. Pikachu accompanied her with the third sleeping bag. The both of them were struggling a bit with lugging the camping necessities around, but they managed to reach the Viridian Forest.

"Hey Ash, are we still in Pallet? There's nothing but trees and fields here." May commented. Ash peered at the surroundings.

"Waah! We went too far!"

"It's getting dark, we better turn back."

"Nah, we'll just camp out here May!"

"Camp out? But we don't even have anything to get us through the night!"

"Calm down May, we'll just make due with what we have."

"You don't understand Ash, I'm not one to be in touch with nature, I can't just be dropped off in the middle of the woods and be expected to survive with nothing."

Just then a rustling sound was heard. May jumped and hid behind Ash. 

"What was that?"

"Probably a pokemon."

The rustling continued. Something was nearing the two of them. May whimpered behind Ash. Ash was prepared to grab a pokeball and send out one of his pokemon to protect them, but suddenly a familiar voice was heard.

"Don't tell me you two are afraid of being out here all alone."

A figure appeared revealing Misty along with Pikachu. Ash and May sighed in relief.

"Hey Misty, what are you doing all the way out here?" Ash asked.

"I could ask you the same question!" Misty said with annoyance in her voice eyeing May suspiciously. May only rolled her eyes.

"Anyways, your mom asked me to bring you your sleeping bag." She put his sleeping bag down on the ground. She then turned to May and in a careless tone said, "Oh, and she told me to bring you one too May." She then dropped the extra sleeping bag and stretched from having to carry the two loads. Pikachu had also put Misty's sleeping bag down and a fell to the ground exhausted.

"Thanks Misty!" Ash said grabbing his bag. May grabbed the extra one gratefully. Ash then noticed that Misty had brought hers as well.

"Are you camping out here with us?"

"I'm not a delivery girl, I have a right to be here."

"I'm not saying you don't, we might as well get a fire going now before it gets too dark, you two get the firewood, me and Pikachu will get something to eat."

"Pika!" Ash and Pikachu left in search for food. Misty and May were left to themselves. They stood in silence for a while. Misty then started walking off. May then suddenly got frightened being by herself and followed her.

"Why are you following me? You're not afraid are you?"

"No! Of course not! I just think we'll have more luck locating wood together."

"May, we're looking for wood, it's not hard to find. Don't you know how to survive by yourself?"

"Sure I can!"

"All right then! We'll see if you can, we'll both have separate camps. Neither of us will ask for Ash's help. We'll see who gets through the night."

"Fine then!" Misty and May headed in opposite directions looking for wood. 'Oh great! I have no idea what I'm doing! It was easier when Ash, Brock, and Max were there by my side whenever we camped out, but I don't think I can do this on my own!'

Misty had no trouble gathering wood for herself. She was on her way back to the campsite. She saw that May hadn't returned yet and smiled smugly. 'She won't last long.'

Ash and Pikachu had returned with fruit and berries. He saw that only Misty was there.

"Hey, where's May? Did she get lost?"

"No, she just decided to try to fend for herself out here and asks for neither of us to help her." Misty said. Ash was a little confused as to why May would want to do that, but shrugged it off.

May was still wandering around trying to find firewood. 'Give me a break! I'm in a forest! How difficult can it be to find some decent wood?!' she continued her search and sighed. She was just about to send out a pokemon to help her in her search, but decided not to. 'No, I want to do this on my own, without even my pokemon's help!'

Tired, scared, and cold, May decided to grab small pieces of sticks and twigs, not caring if they were decent enough. She grabbed anything that would burn, like leaves. She returned to the campsite to find that Misty and Ash had their own campfires set several feet away from each other. 

"Pika!" Pikachu yelled out happily as it saw May approach. Ash and Misty looked up to see her.

"Hey May! I was starting to get worried about you! Where've you been?" Misty said in a catty way. May only glared at her. She went over to her sleeping bag and dropped everything she had gathered to the ground exhausted.

"Is that all you got as firewood?" Ash asked her. May blushed in embarrassment.

"I'm not all that cold anyways, besides I'm afraid of starting a forest fire."

"Okay."

May sat down on the ground tired from the walking she did.

"Aren't you going to start a fire May?" May groaned hearing Misty ask that question. 

'How do I do this?' May asked herself. She thought back to times when Brock would set up camp. Of course, he was prepared with matches. She tried rubbing two sticks together. Tiny embers would appear, but died down soon after lighting. May was growing exasperated and fell onto her back. Her head hit something hard and she looked to see what it was. She smiled happily finding out that it was flint. She grabbed it and tried striking it against her pile of sticks and leaves. A spark appeared and the sticks caught fire to it. May rejoiced.

"Great job May!" Ash congratulated her.

"Yeah, great job." Misty said dully.

May beamed, but noticed that she was growing hungry. She looked towards Ash and Misty. They were both already eating, Misty was feeding Togepi and Ash was feeding Pikachu. Misty made a side glance and noticed May was staring at them eating.

"You know May, if you're hungry, then maybe you should start looking for some food." May groaned again. She was tired, but she was also hungry. She got up and started walking away. 

"Gee, May seems pretty tired, I wonder why she wants to do this all by herself." Ash wondered watching May.

"I have no idea." Misty lied.

'Here I am again, wandering in the woods again. Why did I even agree to this challenge?' May asked herself. She looked up in the trees, and saw that they were no longer baring fruit or berries. 'How could all the fruits and berries disappear so quickly? I could've sworn I saw some earlier!' Her question was answered when she saw a bunch of pidgey and ratata hoarding food. May sighed and collapsed to the ground. 'I'm having such bad luck out here!' Suddenly she noticed there was one last apple left in a tree. She ran towards it and began climbing. May was just about to make a grab for it when a spearow flew down and snatched it.

"Hey that was mine!" May called out to it. The spearow continued to fly away. May jumped down from the tree and ran after the spearow. She followed the spearow until she lost sight of it. By then she was nowhere near the campsite. 'Great, now what do I do? I'm so hungry and tired.' 

May sat underneath a tree and closed her eyes. Suddenly, something fell onto her head.

"Ow!" May cried as she rubbed where she was hit. She looked around to see what hit her. To her surprise it was an apple! She grabbed it, wiped off any dirt she saw, and bit into it. She savored the fruit in her mouth. When she finished it, she looked up and saw more fruit. May smiled and gathered as many apples as she could. 

May started heading towards camp, but stopped in her tracks when she had no idea which way to go. Wind was blowing strongly and she shivered. 'I need to find some kind of shelter.' She looked around and noticed a small cave. May ran over to it, she was just the right size to fit into it. She crawled in and began eating. Fatigue kicked in and she was drifting off to sleep. 'My first night in Kanto and it turns out to be in a cave. Well, at least I proved that I was able to survive out here.' May then fell asleep.

"May, hey May! Wake up!"

May's eyes fluttered open. It was morning, she made it through the night. She looked up to see Ash peeking in the cave with Pikachu on his shoulder. Misty was also there.

"Ash?"

"You had us worried May! I stayed up all night waiting for you to come back!" May blushed hearing this. She smiled at Ash.

"I was fine Ash! After I realized that I was too far away, I decided to seek shelter and eat in here!"

"You mean you actually found food?" Misty asked. May nodded happily. She crawled out of the cave, stood up, and stretched.

"Wow, I'm impressed May! You made it out here by yourself! That's pretty admirable for someone who's never camped out on her own before!" Ash exclaimed. May blushed again.

"Well, why should it be so surprising? Misty did pretty good herself." Misty looked away nervously as Ash chuckled.

"Misty didn't really fend for herself, I ended up helping her." May was both angry and pleased. Angry that she had to go through all the torture of being alone in the woods, and pleased that she was the one who ended up as the victor of Misty's challenge. Not only that, but she won Ash's admiration as well!

"Come on, let's head back home!" Ash, Pikachu, and the girls headed towards Pallet once again.

That's the end of Chapter 6! You may have noticed that I'm pretty slow when it comes to updating. Do not give up on me and my fic, I have every intention of completing it. You're going to have to try and bear with me people, I'm not a very creative person, and I do have a lot of work to do. Plus, I am also co-writing a fic with Tigersword, and that kind of distracts me from this fic. I'm also sorry to say taht there won't be an AAML version. I'm sorry to disappoint those of you who support it, but I have little time on my hands. Please forgive me.


	7. Round 4: Savior

How long has it been? Oh well, the important thing is that I updated.

Chapter 7: Round 4: Savior

Ash and co. were back at their original campsite collecting their things. May hummed a happy little tune with a huge grin on her face as she was rolling up her sleeping bag. The song brought annoyance to Misty. She turned towards May with a readied glare, but looking at May's giddiness seemed to have an odd affect on her. She didn't feel like shooting dirty looks at May. 

'It's weird, but for some reason I actually feel kind of... happy for May. I have no idea why. We're both after the same guy, but seeing her like this makes her seem like less of a rival to me.' Misty stared at May. She remembered that content and carefree face. It was the same face May had when she had first met her. It was that same happy girl with a little-sisterly like feel. Without even realizing it, Misty had a smile upon her own face and out of nowhere, she giggled. 'She's a cute kid!' Her train of thought was broken when Ash's voice was heard.

"Well, that's that!" Ash exclaimed as he had finished up packing.

"Pika! Pi!" Pikachu piped as it sat beside Ash.

Misty had shaken all of what she had just thought of May out of her head when she snapped back to reality. 'That's right, we're still fighting over Ash's affections. Why did we have to become rivals? Or better yet, why did I turn our blossoming friendship into enmity? Well, if I want Ash, then I can't let my weakness for friendship get in the way of my goal, so I guess it'll have to remain this way for now. Just until he chooses one of us.'

May had also broke free of her humming with only her smile gracing her. The morning had given her a new found hope. She couldn't wait for the next challenge. She was prepared for anything.

Ash stood up with his things under his arm and Pikachu perched on his shoulder. "Ready to go you two?" The girls nodded synchronically.

"Yeah!" They said.

The group started walking through a very wooded area. Suddenly, Ash spotted a Spearow and hesitated.

"What's wrong Ash?" May asked. This grabbed Misty's attention and smirked.

"I bet I know, he still remembers that time he got a Spearow mad at him when he just became a pokemon trainer!" It agitated Ash that Misty told her that.

"It wasn't my fault! It was after Pikachu!"

"Pi!" Pikachu said.

"Uh huh, and you were the one who picked a fight with the Spearow in the first place and then it and its friends attacked Pikachu!" Misty stated matter-of-factly. Ash let out a slight chuckle.

"And if that hadn't had happened I wouldn't have met you." Misty thought about it and smiled.

"I guess you're right Ash!" May became a little uncomfortable with the two of them walking down memory lane. They had known each other for so long and she had only known them for a short time compared to what they've been through together. She didn't want to feel left out of their conversation either, it made her feel more uneasy.

"So why did you make that Spearow angry?"

"Well, I was trying to capture a Pidgey and when I couldn't I got frustrated and accidently threw a rock at Spearow."

"And it was that tough to battle one measly little Spearow?" Ash was about to give her the explanation about Pikachu in the beginning, but she interrupted. 'Maybe if I show up Ash on battling a Pokemon he had trouble with, I can have another upper hand in winning him over through admiration!'

"It doesn't look that tough to me. I'll battle it right now!" May ran off towards the Spearow. Ash called out to her to stop, but she kept going.

"Wow, I didn't know she could be just like you." Misty commented.

"Pikachu." Pikachu agreed.

May stopped in front of the Spearow with a pokeball in hand. The Spearow looked at her with curiosity in its eyes. May smiled ready to take victory.

"Go Combusken!" Combusken was released out of its pokeball and let out its battle cry. Spearow readied itself for the battle.

"Combusken, use double kick!" Combusken did as it was told. May was sure that that would have done enough damage to the Spearow, but it turned out that the Spearow still had some fight left in it.

"What? It looks like it didn't affect it at all!"

"May, fighting moves won't work on Spearow!" Ash called out to her on the sidelines.

"All right then! Use ember!" Combusken let out the said attack from it beak. Spearow quickly dodged it and the embers fell upon a tree. However, May didn't notice for she was too caught up in defeating Spearow. The tree continued to burn to the point where it was about to fall.

"Ember!" May called out again. The attack missed again and hit another tree. The Spearow soon flew away.

"Hey, come back you coward!" May started to run after it, when the first tree that was hit with ember started falling right where she was. 

"May look out!" both Ash and Misty called out. May stopped and saw the tree coming down and fear paralyzed her. She thought she was done for, but then Ash tackled her out of the way of the falling tree.

"Are you alright May?"

"Yeah, thanks Ash." She answered still a little shaken up. She smiled at him, but it soon fell when she heard Pikachu cry.

"Pika! Pi!"

"Ash, May, look out!" Misty yelled. They looked to see that the second tree hit by ember was collapsing as well. Ash pushed May forward and jumped back just in time to avoid the tree. He became trapped within the flames as the two trees had formed a barrier. He decided to run the opposite way instead, but the spreading fire beat him to his escape. Ash was surrounded.

As this was happening , Misty, Combusken, and Pikachu had ran toward May. Misty knelt down beside her with concern written on her face.

"May, are you okay?" she asked the bewildered girl. It struck May odd that her rival cared about her well being. In the midst of this, she saw what was going on. She looked on with complete shock and terror as Ash became trapped. Ash attempted to release Corphish, but he could barely keep himself up from inhaling too much smoke and began coughing violently. May quickly reacted by sending out Beautifly.

"Beautifly, use gust to put out the fire!" Beautifly flapped its wings fast and hard, but to no avail. The fire was too strong for the butterfly pokemon and the flames were getting to it. It was wearing down. May called Beautifly back helplessly. 'Now what? This is all my fault? How can I save Ash now?'

"Corsola, Politoed, Staryu, go!" Misty released her pokemon one by one.

"Use water gun to put out the flames!" the pokemon did so and sprayed the fire down. May watched in amazement as Misty took control of the situation. Once the flames calmed down enough, Misty put down her backpack with Togepi in it next to May and raced in to get Ash. He weakly looked up at her.

"Misty?" he let out a cough. 

"Hang in there Ash." Misty covered his mouth with a handkerchief she had brought with her, put his arm around her shoulder and helped him out of the fire.

Misty lied Ash down on the ground. He inhaled the fresh air deeply as he coughed out the smoke that had filled his lungs. 

"Ash are you okay?"

"Yeah, thank you." he coughed out. Pikachu rushed to Ash's side.

"Pika! Pi!" Ash smiled at Pikachu reassuringly.

"Don't worry Pikachu, I'm fine!" Pikachu smiled. Ash sat up and turned toward Misty.

"Thank you Misty, I owe you my life!"

"Don't worry about it Ash, that's what I'm here for! To get you out of trouble." she replied. Ash chuckled.

"This makes how many times I've saved your skin?"

"You're keeping count?"

May watched them as they joked. Her eyes filled with tears as she watched Ash. 'I couldn't protect him. Ash has saved me many times before and I couldn't do the same for him today! It was my fault to begin with. Why wasn't I able to save him?' May turned her gaze towards Misty. 'She did what I couldn't. She's more of a hero than I'll ever be.'

Misty turned towards May and noticed her solemn look on her face.

"May, are you okay?" May broke out of her thoughts and blinked her tears away.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I just want to leave now." she said quietly.

"Sure May, we can go right now." Ash replied.

They got up and started heading off again.

"Ash?"

"Yeah May?"

"I'm really sorry."

"It's alright May, just don't tell my mom what happened or else she'd freak out." Ash said trying to cheer her up.

"Okay." she said with her head down. 'Why couldn't I protect him?'

Well Misty was the big hero in this one, it appears to be a tied game for May and Misty now. What's in store next? Sorry for the hiatus, I just couldn't think of anything. I finally did when I found out that my brother became a firefighter so thank him. Well, good news is that you won't have to wait very long for the next chapter since I already have an idea of what to write next. Review time! No flames, Ash has had enough of that for this chapter^_^;


	8. Revitalizing

Chapter 8: Revitalizing

It was noon already. May sat in the living room of the Ketchum residence still reminiscing about the incident that occurred earlier that day. Ash was worn out from what had happened and was resting in his room and Mrs. Ketchum was out visiting a friend. It was just Misty and May.

Misty was feeding her Togepi in the dining room. The little pokemon trilled as it took tiny bites out of the food. Misty giggled. May ended catching Misty's eye when she noticed how quiet it was around the house. Not that they conversed much when they were alone together, but there was such a gloomy atmosphere to her silence. Misty couldn't take it. She wanted to see that cute kid sister girl she had seen previously.

May continued to replay that moment over and over in her head. She just couldn't help but feel that it was all her fault that Ash almost turned to, well, ash. She depressed herself even more thinking so.

Misty finally got up with Togepi cradled in her arms. She walked over to where May was seated on the couch. Upon her face was a stern look as if she was about to bite May's head off. May noticed and prepared herself for an earful. Instead, she saw Misty's expression turn into a warm and friendly smile.

"May, how about we spend the day together? You could use some cheering up!" Misty said with a gentle voice. May was a little shocked to say the least, but gave Misty a small grin to thank her for her offer. Then she lowered her face and returned to her solemn look.

"No thank you Misty, I'm not really up to doing anything right now." Misty wouldn't take no for an answer. She grabbed May's arm and pulled her up to her feet.

"Come on May, it'll be fun! We haven't spent any time together ever since we found out that we both liked you-know-who. Let's just take the day off from him and have some quality girl time!" Misty said in an all too perky tone. At that moment, May couldn't refuse. She smiled and nodded.

"Alright, let's go." She said quietly still feeling like she didn't deserve any kindness.

Misty had led May to what she had found out to be one of her favorite places to go, the mall! It was rare to find one in Pallet Town, so Misty ended up taking May to a bigger city. May was definitely up for shopping.

"Wow! Thank you so much Misty! Come on, let's go in!"

May dragged Misty up and down the entire mall. They tried on outfit after outfit, bought swimsuit after swimsuit, and ate snacks after snacks. The two girls were having a blast.

They sat at the food court to take a breather after all the running around. May was slurping up a strawberry smoothie while Misty licked away at an ice cream cone sharing it with Togepi who was sitting in her lap. May never knew she could have so much fun with her rival, but something was plaguing her mind about it.

"Misty, can I ask you a question?"

"Mm-hm" Misty managed to let out as she continued on her ice cream.

"Why are you doing this for me? I thought you held a grudge towards me." Misty stopped licking her ice cream cone and looked at May seriously.

"Because I wanted to see that cute little girl again." May was confused, but urged Misty to continue.

"When I first met you, I thought you'd make such a nice friend. You kind of reminded me of a younger sister that I had always wanted. One that would look up to me, share secrets with me, come to me when she has a problem, think of me as her influence. That's the impression you gave me that first day. I wanted to become friends so that maybe we could develop that sort of relationship." May smiled as Misty spoke of her dream sister that she never had. 

"But once I found out that you liked Ash, I felt like I had to sacrifice that dream in order to make another dream come true. I noticed the way how Ash treats you and I felt threatened. That's when I knew that I couldn't let our friendship come between my love for Ash, and so I put an end to it." May's smile faltered.

"I was so gung ho on every chance of getting Ash to like me more than you, but earlier today I saw something in you that I had forgotten all about and I remembered the reason why I wanted to be your friend in the first place. When I saw that little sister quality again, I didn't want it to go away, and so that's why I'm so determined in making you happy. I just want to see that little sister again." Misty finished with a small blush and a smile. 

May didn't know what to say. She was touched, so much that tears had formed. She blinked them back. There was silence until Misty gasped when her ice cream started to drip onto her hand.

"Aah! My ice cream!" Togepi trilled happily in Misty's lap. May giggled. Misty glanced at May and smiled.

"Should we head back now?" Misty asked. May stopped to think. She didn't want her time with Misty to end. Once it ended, their rivalry would begin again. She turned to Misty with an idea to stall it.

The two girls ended up at the beach in Pallet Town. They lied on their towels soaking up the sun while wearing the swimsuits they had just bought.

"Ah! Nothing's better than a day at the beach!" May exclaimed.

Suddenly one of May's pokeballs opened. Out popped her Skitty.

"Skitty!" It cheerfully exclaimed. May sat up and was about to scold Skitty.

"Skitty you've gotta stop popping out of your pokeball!"

"Hey, it wouldn't be a bad idea to let our pokemon out. They need some relaxation every once in a while too!"

Misty began releasing her pokemon. Out came Politoed, Corsola, Goldeen, Staryu, Gyarados, and Psyduck. Those that weren't able to be sustained on land stayed in the ocean. May gazed in awe.

"Wow! I've never seen so many water pokemon owned by just one trainer!" Misty turned to May with anticipation to see her pokemon.

"Oh right!" May began releasing her pokemon as well. Combusken, Beautifly, and Bulbasaur were released. Beautifly returned to the top of May's head, Combusken ran off to familiarize itself with Misty's pokemon, and Bulbasaur began running around in the sand curious to know what it was and where it was. Skitty began chasing its tail as usual.

"Your pokemon are so cute!"

"Thanks!"

May's pokemon began to gather around Misty full of curiosity of who she was. Misty petted Skitty and Bulbasaur on top of their heads. She then noticed the two heart shapes on Bulbasaur's forehead. Misty thought about Ash's Bulbasaur and wondered if it had markings like that as well, which in turn led to her thinking about Ash.

"May?"

"Yeah Misty?"

"How much do you like Ash?" May sat silent a bit.

"I don't know how to rate it on a scale, but I'm guessing it's pretty close to yours."

"Why do you like him?" May thought a moment.

"It's kind of weird. He's nowhere near romantic, and he can be kind of dense, but he's the kind of guy that only comes around once in your life. The one that changes you forever, there's just something about him. I don't know, maybe it's his love for pokemon, or his undying desire. Whatever it is, he makes you smile and want to be with him all the more, you know what I mean?" Misty turned away as she thought it over. She chuckled.

An hour later the sun was beginning to set. The pokemon fell asleep on the warm sand while some of Misty's water pokemon continued to swim. Misty and May looked out to the horizon enjoying the beautiful oranges and reds in the sky. It was getting late. May knew what was about to come. They'd go back to Ash's house, and once they're there, they'd end up saying goodbye to their friendship as their rivalry will start all over again.

"Misty?"

"Yes May?"

"I'm glad we got to hang out today, I just hope we can do it after Ash chooses one of us."

"Me too, but it might be hard for us to be around each other when we know that the other got the guy. It would be too heartbreaking I think, for me anyways." Misty had a point, and there was no way of getting around it. May sighed.

The girls recalled their own pokemon and headed back to Ash's house. 'Why'd we have to like the same guy?' the two of them thought.

Sure enough, May was right. Their rivalry did arise once again. It was inevitable, but both girls had hoped otherwise. Who knows what was to come of their camaraderie, but they soon started forgetting about all about it when they were around Ash.

Well there was no round for them this chapter, but don't worry, there are more to come! 

And a note to Gryphon Turboclaw: I appreciate the info, but I don't need it. I'm updated on what's going on in the show by visiting Serebii.net and Pokelord.com so please don't type up spoilers, I know that must have taken you quite a while to type up and I don't want you to end up getting writer's cramp. All I ask of you is a review, nothing more^_^


	9. Round 5: Mother Knows The Best

I LIVE!!! I've had some major writer's block and wasn't able to write this chapter. I've planned my fic out, I just can't seem to write my ideas:P

Chapter 9: Round 5: Mother Knows The Best

Soon after May and Misty's bonding, the two became rivals once again for Ash's love. Although, their catty attitudes towards each other that was present before their time together had dissolved. They merely had a friendly rivalry, and to them, it was better than nothing.

Mrs. Ketchum was preparing breakfast when Ash came in looking for something to eat. He recovered rather well from the accident and was ready, willing, and able for the day.

"Good morning sweetie!" Mrs. Ketchum said as she turned to face Ash.

"Morning Mom!" Ash replied back. He opened the fridge and brought out a carton of milk, then headed towards the cabinet to grab a glass. He noticed neither of the girls were around. "Where's May and Misty?"

"May went out shopping and Misty went to go see Prof. Oak." Mrs. Ketchum answered. She set a plate of pancakes, scrambled eggs, and bacon on the table for Ash.

"This early in the morning?" Ash said as he sat down with his glass of milk.

"May offered to pick up a few things for me and wanted to buy some souvenirs while she's at the store, and Misty said she needed to exchange a pokemon from Prof. Oak's lab for something she has planned later on."

"Knowing May she'll probably buy up the entire store and that'll take a while. So I guess this leaves an open schedule for me today." Ash said between bites.

"Not exactly, Ash. Prof. Birch called a little while ago. He said he wanted you to meet a trainer from Hoenn at the dock. He's also new to Kanto and needs a guide so I took the liberty of volunteering you to tag along with him on his journey!" Ash choked on his food.

"Wha?!"

"I knew you wouldn't mind Ash! Now you better hurry up and finish your breakfast or you'll be late picking him up!"

"But Mom I-"

"I'll start packing your things for your trip, let me know when our guest is here!" Mrs. Ketchum said as she left the room.

"-I wanted some time off from traveling for a while. Oh well, I'm sure May will want to come along, maybe even Misty." Ash muttered to himself as he continued eating.

Meanwhile, Misty was at Prof. Oak's lab talking to her sister on the phone.

"Anyways Daisy, I need to exchange a pokemon right away!"

"What's the big rush little sister? And why so early in the morning?"

"Come on Daisy, quit interrogating me. I'm sending goldeen to you from Prof. Oak's lab."

"Okay, okay. I have a guess of which pokemon you want." Daisy said as she picked up a poke ball and showed it to Misty through the video phone. Misty smiled.

"Thanks Daisy!"

The two poke balls were exchanged. Misty picked up the poke ball and held it close to her heart wishing herself good luck.

"So what do you need it for anyways Misty?" Misty turned to face her sister on the screen.

"I have a plan to win Ash over!" She replied.

"Alright, well good luck!"

"Thanks again Daisy!" Misty hung up the phone and the screen went black. She glanced down at the poke ball in her hand with a little distress. "This might be thought of as cheating, but it'll help Ash in making his decision quicker. I feel terrible about this, but I just can't go another day hoping he'll pick me."

May was walking back to Ash's house from her little shopping trip. In one hand was a bag containing the things that Mrs. Ketchum had asked for, in the other was a bag with some souvenirs along with a couple of gifts for her family. She seemed pretty content with the goodies she got.

"Mom is going to love this adorable little dishtowel I got her!" May said excitedly as she visualized the pink dishtowel with a picture of the entire town of Pallet stitched onto it with the words 'I love Pallet Town, Kanto'. "Hmm, speaking of Mom, I should have gotten Ash's mom a gift or do something for her to thank her for her hospitality."

As May continued on towards Ash's house, she saw Ash burst out the front door as if he was in a hurry for something with Pikachu right behind him. She could only stand and watch with a clueless expression upon her face. She blinked as she saw Ash and Pikachu speed off.

"Where's he going in such a hurry?" She wondered. May shrugged and entered the front door. She put down the bags in her hands and closed the door behind her.

"Misty? May? Is that you?" Mrs. Ketchum called out from Ash's room.

"It's me Mrs. Ketchum, I got what you asked for!" replied May as she picked up the bags again and headed towards Ash's room.

"Thank you May, that was very sweet of you to do for me." Mrs. Ketchum smiled warmly at May.

"No problem! If you need anything else done, let me know!" May said as she handed Mrs. Ketchum the bag.

Misty had walked in the house with the poke ball still in his hand. She curiously headed towards Ash's room when she heard Mrs. Ketchum and May talking.

"You're such a good girl May! Your helpfulness rivals Misty's!" Misty was a little disconcert by that comment.

"Oh, I don't know about that." May said sheepishly. Mrs. Ketchum peered over May and saw Misty standing in the doorway.

"Oh! Welcome back Misty! Were you able to get the pokemon you wanted?" Misty snapped out of her little trance.

"Huh? Oh yeah!" Misty peered down at the poke ball in her hand. She then looked around. "Where's Ash?"

"He went on a little errand, he'll be back later today." Mrs. Ketchum answered.

"Oh." Misty said quietly. 'Great, my plan won't work if he's not here, and I won't be able to put it into action if May's here too.'

"Were you planning on having a battle with him or something?" May asked curiously.

"Uh, y-yeah! That's right!" Misty lied.

"So was that why I saw Ash running out of here earlier?" May asked Mrs. Ketchum. She nodded.

"Mr. Birch called asking him to meet a new trainer coming into Kanto. He's going to accompany him during his journey in Kanto to collect badges."

"He's going to make that same trip again?!" Misty asked.

"Mm-hmm, but not before lunch. He needs his energy or else he won't be able to do all that walking! After all, mother knows best!" Mrs. Ketchum winked as she said the last part. Both Misty and May thought about that last thing she said.

'Mother knows best? I've got it! If I show Mrs. Ketchum how great a girl I am, she'll definitely encourage Ash to choose me!' they both thought simultaneously.

Mrs. Ketchum resumed to packing Ash's backpack. Misty saw this as an opportunity.

"Here! Let me help you Mrs. Ketchum!" she said as she put in some things into the backpack.

"Why thank you Misty!" May realized that Misty had the same idea as she did and frantically thought of what to do.

"Um, I'll go wash up those dirty dishes that Ash left behind!"

"Oh thank you May, that'd be gre-" by the time Mrs. Ketchum turned to face May, she was already gone. "-at…"

While this was going on at the Ketchum residence, Ash was making his way to the dock with Pikachu. He wasn't even sure what time the ship would arrive, but he wanted to make it there early just in case.

"Come on Pikachu! We've gotta get there quick!"

"Pika!"

They made it to the dock finally and it seemed like with plenty of time to spare since there was no ship yet.

"Well, it looks like we wait Pikachu."

"Cha…" Pikachu sighed. They went over to a bench and sat down.

"I wonder who'll be coming."

"Pika…"

May had finished the dishes and Misty had finished packing. Mrs. Ketchum was out in the garden with Mr. Mime. She watered her flowers while Mr. Mime swept. The girls came outside almost racing towards Mrs. Ketchum. Misty made it to her first.

"Mrs. Ketchum, let me water your flowers for you! I can get it done faster since I have water pokemon!"

"Sure Misty, thank you!" as Mrs. Ketchum turned to head into the house, she almost bumped into May who was standing right in front of her.

"Oh! Hi May! Do you need something?"

"I was about to ask you the same question! Is there anything you'd like for me to do Mrs. Ketchum?"

"Well since Misty's watering the flowers for me, I was going to hang the laundry up to dry."

"I can do that for you Mrs. Ketchum!"

"Um, okay…" Mrs. Ketchum said. She headed towards the door and turned to look at the two girls. "You two are being so helpful! I appreciate it! Maybe today I can finally catch my soap opera!" with that said she went inside leaving the two girls.

"Enjoy your break!" Misty said. She then glanced over at May. "I'm guessing you had the same idea, didn't you?"

"Yeah."

"Well then, may the best girl win." they shook hands on it.

Misty turned towards the flowers. She grabbed three poke balls and held them in between her fingers. They were tossed and out popped out Corsola, Politoed, and Staryu.

"Corsola! Politoed! Staryu! Use water gun on the flowers!" the three pokemon did as they were told. Suddenly Psyduck popped out of it's poke ball. It used it's own water gun on the flowers. It merely squirted out enough to water a weed. As soon as it was satisfied that it helped out, it jumped up and down excitedly.

"Psy-ay-ay!" it happily said to Misty. She only returned it to its poke ball.

"Yeah, some help you are." she said with a little irritation in her voice.

May headed inside to fetch the laundry basket full of damp clothes. She leaned over to pick it up, but found it was too heavy for her to lift alone. She started dragging the basket over to the door and got tired out. She gave a look of despair, but something clicked and she lightly hit herself in the head.

"Duh May!" she told herself. She grabbed a poke ball and released Combusken.

"Combusken!"

"Combusken, could you help me carry out this laundry basket?" the pokemon nodded and grabbed one side of the basket while May grabbed the other. They successfully carried it outside to the clothesline.

"Thanks Combusken!" May said as she returned it to its poke ball. She grabbed two other poke balls and released Beautifly and Bulbasaur. Together, the three hung up the laundry in mere moments.

"Looks like we both finished in record time, huh May?" Misty said as she recalled all of her pokemon and walked over to May.

"Yeah!" May said happily. She turned towards Beautifly and Bulbasaur. "Thanks you two! You did a great job today!" she said as she recalled her pokemon as well.

Mrs. Ketchum came out to check on the girls. She saw that they did a wonderful job.

"Wow! You girls really are a great help to me! Thank you so much!"

"It was nothing Mrs. Ketchum!" May said.

"Ash is very lucky to have both of you girls around! I wouldn't mind if he chose to go out with one of you, you'd both make such wonderful girlfriends for Ash!"

"Huh?!" Misty and May both exclaimed.

"Oh! I'm sorry if I embarrassed either of you for saying that, it's just that I equally like you both so much that I'd be ecstatic if either went out with my son!" with that said, Mrs. Ketchum went back inside the house.

The girls fell back in the traditional anime style. They didn't think Mrs. Ketchum would think of both of them as the best for Ash.

"Looks like we're tied here, aren't we?" May asked.

"Not for long! This really has to end now! I'm tired of trying to get Ash to like me better! So this will be our final round!" May looked at Misty with an inquiring look.

"What will?" she asked.

"The loser of this next round will have to give up on winning Ash's heart. May, I challenge you to a pokemon battle!"

And that's the end of chapter 9! Who will win this pokemon battle? What was Misty's plan earlier? Will she use it later? And who is it that's coming all the way from Hoenn? Stick around to find out


End file.
